Recommendation for Windows Laptop with Firewrire Port?

[paulsmusic]

I want to buy a laptop with a firewire port (or with the option to add firewire), and wondered if anybody has any recommendations? I'm currently using a Focusrite Saffire Pro 56 interface (hence the need for firewire), with Cubase 7 (which I'll upgrade to 8.5). I have a budget of up to £1,000 (preferably less!). Many thanks!

[James Perrett]

Not sure if there is anything available new nowadays. Your best bet is to find a laptop with an Express Card slot and find a suitable Firewire card - Focusrite have some suggestions on their website.

I've just bought myself a refurbished Dell Precision M4600. While it has a built in Firewire port (as does the later M4700) it uses a Via chipset and, given my experiments with the larger M6700, I doubt it will work with many audio interfaces.

This laptop has been upgraded to Windows 10 which also potentially limits the choice of Firewire cards as the older TI chipset isn't supported on Windows 10.

[Pete Kaine]

The only thing that might be problematic with that is that Expresscard slots have been a legacy standard for coming up to a decade now. The was still a few firms who fitted them out a generation or two ago on some business laptops that needed support for older hardware (HP for instance had a range, so worth a look there) but I don't know if this has carried over to this generation of hardware?

The secondhand market might be the best call for that as James says, although then I have a feeling it might be the only call in this instance.

[Matt Houghton]

Do the Thunderbolt>Firewire adapters work when running Windows on a MacBook Pro? I've not tried it, but figured it might be a potential option worth looking into.

[TheChorltonWheelie]

I want to buy a laptop with a firewire port (or with the option to add firewire), and wondered if anybody has any recommendations? I'm currently using a Focusrite Saffire Pro 56 interface (hence the need for firewire), with Cubase 7 (which I'll upgrade to 8.5). I have a budget of up to £1,000 (preferably less!). Many thanks!

Lenovo Thinkpad W540 has an Expresscard slot (as well as Thunderbolt): up until very recently I used this in conjunction with a Lycom card and my Saffire 56, 1000's of gigs without any issue whatsoever. The Saffire has since gone, but I'm still using the same setup, via Firewire, with my RME UFX.

The biggest issue won't be the laptop, it'll be the Expresscard you use: you need to make sure it's a Ti chipset, that's the most solid/reliable platform to use.

[Guest271017]

Not all TI chips are equal. There's legacy kit out there that isn't compatible and still being sold new.

[TheChorltonWheelie]

Not all TI chips are equal. There's legacy kit out there that isn't compatible and still being sold new.

That's why I specifically mentioned the Lycom FW card.

[Pete Kaine]

Do the Thunderbolt>Firewire adapters work when running Windows on a MacBook Pro? I've not tried it, but figured it might be a potential option worth looking into.

They work on the various PC laptops with Thunderbolt I've tried, so I'd expect so but I haven't attempted it.